Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) turned her head and saw a very enchanting young lady sitting there at some point. A large portion of her fair and tender waist was exposed. Since there was no belt, the token wasn't on her waist but hung from her neck with a cord. It perfectly concealed more than half of the scenery on her chest, creating a subtly alluring beauty.
Seeing that the other person shared her surname, Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) cozily moved her food box closer. "Sister Ruzhen, do you know what happened between them?"
"You're a new student, aren't you!" Bai Ruzhen, a demon transformed from a white-spotted snake, looked at the other party nodding dazedly. She smiled and said, "The two demons and I were in the same batch when we entered. I heard they were even good friends who cultivated together in the same forest!"
Mao Peilan, Jin Lang, and Jin Mao, a cat demon, a dog demon, and a rat demon respectively, were originally very good friends. They cultivated in the same forest and refined their inner cores around the same time. After cultivating human forms, they agreed to accompany each other to "Tongling Academy" for their studies.
Along the way, they encountered many dangerous situations, but thanks to the three demons working together, they managed to overcome them. However, during the last perilous situation, Jin Mao, in order to save Mao Peilan, self-destructed his inner core, sacrificing himself to help her escape. Jin Lang had just gone out hunting at the time, and when he returned, he learned of this tragic news.
Jin Lang found it hard to accept. He knew that Mao Peilan often teased Jin Mao, and after all, one was a cat and the other a rat! So this time, he suspected that Mao Peilan had deliberately caused Jin Mao's death to save herself. Therefore, even though these two demons later arrived at "Tongling Academy," their friendship had already been shattered.
"Of course, this is all hearsay. Whether Jin Lang wrongly accused Mao Peilan or Mao Peilan truly framed Jin Mao, only they themselves know the truth!" Bai Ruzhen added in the end, "But little Qiushui, no matter what, it's always wise to be more cautious!"
After Bai Ruzhen finished speaking, she swayed her snake-like waist gracefully and carried her meal box away. Mesmerized by her alluring gait, Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) only reacted much later, realizing she had forgotten to add her as a friend. Alas, she would just have to try again next time she met her.
After hearing the gossip and finishing her meal at an accelerated pace, Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) decided to focus on her cultivation. When she was chatting with Mao Peilan earlier, she had heard that another assessment would be held in six months. Mao Peilan had failed her assessment last year and intended to try again this year. Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) also wanted to advance quickly, so she had to seize the time to cultivate.
To avoid wasting any time, before returning to the "cultivation room," she went to the "market" to purchase a bottle of "Bigu Pills." Although her spirit stones were depleted further, this way she could use the time for eating to cultivate, which was also a good method.
Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) entered the "cultivation room" in her own quarters and began to cultivate the first level, "Qi Cultivation in the Body." As the name suggested, this focused on cultivating the physical body. For most demons, their physical bodies were harder than those of humans. However, for her, whose original form was a small white rabbit, this aspect didn't offer much of an advantage.
Previously, Bai Qiushui's (Xiao Wenqiang's) mind was muddled, but once she officially began cultivating, the movements and incantations for "Qi Cultivation in the Body" clearly appeared in her mind. Her hands began to form seals, extracting her demon energy from her dantian and then distributing it through every pore of her body. It was like injecting an invisible protective barrier into her body.
She repeated these actions, and Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) lost count of how many times she had done them. It wasn't until she felt that this invisible barrier could no longer be thickened, and she had reached the limit of what she could endure, that she stopped.
Waking from her meditation, Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) looked at the time on her communication jade token again. She had thought only a short time had passed, but it had actually been over three months.
It seemed she didn't have much time left. Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) quickly took several Bigu Pills from the bottle and began cultivating the next level – "Spirit Gathering in the Dantian."
The cultivation technique for this level required gathering all the spiritual energy in the air and storing it in her dantian to nourish her inner core. This step was usually the most time-consuming, and Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) had prepared herself for a prolonged battle. This was because the spiritual energy in the vast land was becoming increasingly scarce and dispersed, making it difficult to gather.
However, as soon as she initiated the process, the spiritual energy seemed to rush towards her from all directions! Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) was unaware that due to the presence of the soul artifact, her current body could absorb spiritual energy exceptionally quickly.
While other cultivators might actively absorb spiritual energy, she attracted it, causing it to converge automatically. Therefore, whenever she began to absorb and cultivate, the spiritual energy she obtained was tens of thousands of times that of others. To reach the dantian, the spiritual energy had to circulate through the entire body in a large cycle. Whether it was her imagination or not, as the spiritual energy swirled around, she seemed to sense their joyful emotions.
"Why are these spiritual energies bringing their friends along?" Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) murmured. Suddenly, she remembered something and secretly retained a portion of the spiritual energy, enveloping her head.
Instantly, she felt as if she had lost contact with the system. She tested this by calling out a few times in her mind: "86365? Are you there?" Naturally, she received no response.
Then, she withdrew the spiritual energy and continued the large circulation towards her dantian. After that, she called out: "86365, can the spiritual energy cultivated in this world be taken to other worlds?"
This time, the system responded. 【Impossible, Wenqiang. The main system has set it up so that only your soul and the soul artifact you nurtured can be taken out.】
Although she received a negative answer, she had also drawn a conclusion from another matter and was quite happy. "Alright, otherwise, with this strength, what else would I fear about tasks in other worlds!"
Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) stopped talking to the system and focused on absorbing spiritual energy. It wasn't until her dantian was temporarily full that she opened her eyes. This time, only about three months had passed, and the second level of "Gui Yuan," "Spirit Gathering in the Dantian," had actually been successfully cultivated. From now on, she only needed to continuously strengthen her absorption of spiritual energy; the more spiritual energy, the stronger her power.
Looking at the time on the jade token, Bai Qiushui (Xiao Wenqiang) began to doubt if she had succeeded that easily. Didn't cultivation techniques usually take decades or even centuries? If it was so convenient to succeed, was this technique unreliable?
However, the reliability of the "Gui Yuan" cultivation technique would soon be put to the test.